Cable reel

ABSTRACT

A disposable heavy-duty, high-strength cable reel is made with wooden flanges held together by steel straps within a waterproofed paperboard drum cemented into routings in the flanges.

United States Patent [72] inventors RonaldkHubluu-d;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1933 Dunlap.................

Klaus ll. Blumenfeld, both 01 Orange, Calif. Appl. No. 878,734

1,901,737 242/118 6] 2,751,936 6/1956 Dunlapetal. 242/118.32X

[22] Filed Nov. 21, 1969 Patented Nov. 16, 1971 [73] Assignee Anaconda Wire and Cable Company [54] CABLE REEL 6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

242/1l8.6, 242/118 7 [51] Int. 75/14 ABSTRACT: A disposable heavy-duty, high-strength cable [50] Field of 18.61, reel is made with wooden flanges held together by steel straps ll8.7,1l8.8,118.4,l|8.6,1l8.62,ll3.5,118, within a waterproofed paperboard drum cemented into routings in the flanges.

PATENTEUuuv 16 Ian INVENTORS R. R. HUBBARD and K. H BLUMENFELD CABLE REEL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the shipping of electric cables and other strandlike materials the shipping reels constitute an appreciable element of the cost for many products. These reels must be nonretumable or disposable since the cost of freight and handling to return them would be prohibitive. For certain products, such as electric cables, which have a high unit weight and are frequently unreeled and used under adverse field conditions on construction sites where they are subject to rough handling, the reels are required to have high strength and durability adequately to protect the cable that is wound upon them. This requirement is emphasized by the fact that cables are not immediately removed from the reels upon arrival but are stored and paid off, sometimes piecemeal, from the same reel that is used for shipping. During shipment and use, the reels contemplated by our invention may be exposed to the weather, including rain and snow.

No reel, prior to the present invention, has been completely satisfactory from both an economic and a performance point of view. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,] 16,034, for example, it has been suggested to form a reel drum of wooden staves and hold the flanges together with straps. Because of the staves, however, this reel is relatively expensive, and expensive to assemble. Furthermore, the construction provides very little in torsional strength, as shall be explained.

SUMMARY We have found, surprisingly, that a very superior reel, with exceptional torsional strength and durability can be produced at low cost in a very economical assembly operation by employing a spirally wound fiberboard drum and cementing it into square cut grooves or routings in the flanges. The highstrength cable reel of our invention thus comprises a pair of opposed circular wooden flanges, preferably comprised of plywood, with concentric circular routings in their facing sur faces, and a fiberboard drum, comprising a plurality, preferably exceeding five, of spirally applied bonded plies of paperboard, joining the flanges. This drum, save for being inserted in the routings, is unsupported and serves as the sole compression and torsional member between the flanges. The inner and outer cylindrical surfaces of the drum have waterresistant layers of polymeric material, such, preferable, as polyvinyl acetate, bonded to them, and the flanges are looped together by means of a plurality of steel straps under high tension. The outer water-resistant polymeric coatings can advantageously be obtained by spiralling the inner and outer ply of the drum of a paperboard already coated with the polymeric coating, preferably this ply will be wound with an overlap.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 shows a pictorial view, partly in section of the reel of our invention.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged lengthwise section of a portion of the reel of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates a method of testing the reel of our invention.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, the reel, indicated generally by the numeral has plywood circular flanges 11, 12, wherein are cut concentric routings 13, 14 which are square cornered in section as can best be seen in FIG. 2. The reels are joined by a fiberboard drum 16 formed from a plurality of spirally applied plies of paperboard 17 bonded together between plies. A ply 18 forming the outer layer of the drum 16 has a polymeric surface layer 19 and the ply 18 is wrapped with a bonded overlap 21 so that no paper surface is exposed to moisture. An innermost ply 22 of the drum 16 has been formed from a paperboard that has also been coated with a layer 23 of polymeric material to render it moisture resistant. Each end of the drum 16 is fitted snugly into one of the routings 13, 14 but it is an important feature of our invention that the ends are not merely fitted into the routings but are firmly bonded to the flanges with a suitable moistureproof adhesive or cement 24. We have found that a viscous, polychloroprene base cement supplied by Swift 8: Company, Chicago, Ill, under the designation Swift's 4252 adhesive, performs well as the adhesive 24.

Two loops 26, 27 of steel strap pass through holes 28, 29, 30, 31 in the flange 11 and matching holes 32, 33, 34, 35 in the flange 12. The straps are tightened to a high tension, (we have found 750 pounds to be satisfactory for a Qfi-inch strap) and secured with conventional seals 36, 37. While these straps are exceptionally strong in tension they do not, of course, act at all in compression and have no appreciable direct resistance to torsion, both compressional and torsional strength of the reel being due to the unexpected high performance of the unsupported fiberboard drum 16.

Reels made to our invention were found to have surprising torsional strength. This was determined by testing reels made in accordance with the following example:

EXAMPLE Reels were constructed wherein the flanges l1, 12 were comprised of 2-ply pine and also of 96-inch plywood. The flanges were routed to a depth of about one-fourth inch to receive the drums which had an ID. of 9% and an CD. of IO inches. The drum was formed of nine plies of 0.025-inch paperboard strips 6 3/16 to 6 9/32 inches wide, spirally applied and bonded with sodium silicate. The outer and innermost plies had coatings of polyvinyl acetate. The ends of the drum 16 were bonded in the routings with Swift's 4252 adhesive, and the flanges strapped with -inch steel straps at 750 pounds tension.

TEST M ETHOD The test method is illustrated in FIG. 3. Holes 38, 39 were drilled through both of the flanges and rods 41, 42 having a length a few inches in excess of the length of the drum 16 were inserted through these holes so as to protrude from each end of the reel. Another rod 43 was inserted through the flange hubs 44. Rigid 14 foot lever arms 46, 47 were inserted under the protruding rod 43 using the rod 42 as a fulcrum at the flange 11 and the rod 41 as a fulcrum at the flange 12. A platform 48 suspended from the remote end of each of the lever arms was then loaded until the reel failed, either by twisting of the drum or shattering of a flange, when reels of the example were tested by the above method they withstood torques from 3,800 to 4,000 foot-pounds. For comparison reels having stave drums were also tested by this method and were found to fail between 800 and 1,000 foot-pounds torque.

We believe that the application of a good adhesive in the routings 13, 14 contributes significantly to the outstanding performance of these reels, and for this reason we torque tested some reels from which the straps had been removed and found that they could withstand a torque of 2,000 foot-pounds in the test described above.

In the embodiment that has been described the fiberboard drum was waterproofed with polyvinyl acetate but we do not wish to limit our invention to this polymeric coating. Other such coatings which may be applied as a sheet film or a deposit on the paper surface will include polyethylene, polypropylene, polyacrylates, polychloroprene and other known waterproofing polymers.

We have invented a new and useful cable reel of which the foregoing description has been exemplary rather than definitive and for which we desire an award of Letters Patent as defined in the following claims.

We claim:

1. A high-strength cable reel comprising:

A. a pair of opposed circular wooden flanges having concentric circular routings in their facing surfaces,

B. a fiberboard drum joining said flanges, said drum comprising,

l. a plurality of spirally applied, bonded plies of paperboard,

2. spirally applied layers of water-resistant polymeric material bonded to the inner and outer cylindrical surfaces of said drum,

3. the ends of said drum being fitted into said routings.

C. moistureproof adhesive bonding said drum in said routings and sealing the ends of said drum from moisture, said drums being otherwise unsupported,

D. a plurality of steel straps under high tension within said drum looping together said flanges. 2. The cable reel of claim 1 wherein said flanges are compolymeric coating i l i 

1. A high-strength cable reel comprising: A. a pair of opposed circular wooden flanges having concentric circular routings in their facing surfaces, B. a fiberboard drum joining said flanges, said drum comprising,
 1. a plurality of spirally applied, bonded plies of paperboard,
 2. spirally applied layers of water-resistant polymeric material bonded to the inner and outer cylindrical surfaces of said drum,
 3. the ends of said drum being fitted into said routings, C. moistureproof adhesive bonding said drum in said routings and sealing the ends of said drum from moisture, said drums being otherwise unsupported, D. a plurality of steel straps under high tension within said drum looping together said flanges.
 2. spirally applied layers of water-resistant polymeric material bonded to the inner and outer cylindrical surfaces of said drum,
 2. The cable reel of claim 1 wherein said flanges are comprised of plywood.
 3. The cable reel of claim 1 wherein said polymeric coating is polyvinyl acetate.
 3. the ends of said drum being fitted into said routings, C. moistureproof adhesive bonding said drum in said routings and sealing the ends of said drum from moisture, said drums being otherwise unsupported, D. a plurality of steel straps under high tension within said drum looping together said flanges.
 4. The cable reel of claim 1 wherein the outer plies of the cylindrical surfaces of said drum are comprised of paperboard precoated with waterproof polymeric coatings.
 5. The cable reel of claim 4 wherein said outer plies are overlapped.
 6. The cable reel of claim 1 wherein the plurality of said plies exceeds five. 